Rick Metsger Says He's 'All Ears' on Rules Changes: On-Site at NCUA

NCUA Board Member Rick Metsger, left, speaks with Credit Union Times Washington Reporter Nick Ballasy about Metsger's desire to hear from credit unions on what regulations they would like to see reformed or eliminated, and why.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA Board Member Richard Metsger told Credit Union Times on Tuesday that he is “all ears” on potential reform or elimination of some regulations on credit unions.

“The one third of the rules that are scheduled for review this year, not only am I going to be reviewing them personally, I’m going to be doing as much outreach as I possibly can from the bully pulpit of my office to ask the regulating community: You hear about these, tell me if any of these you feel need to be modified, no longer are applicable based on current application of the credit union world and the reasons for that,” Metsger said in an interview at NCUA headquarters in Alexandria.

Metsger related the regulatory process to his time in politics as an Oregon state legislator.

“When I was there, there would be like four or five thousand bills a year introduced between the two houses and 800 some bills would pass, right, and one of the things you would hear always hear from constituents, ‘Aw, dang it, there’s too many laws and I think for any law you pass you need to eliminate one.’ I mean that’s a common phrase,” the NCUA’s newest board member said.

“Most of the things you passed in the legislature were not new laws at all,” he said. “They were fixing things that you did wrong the first time or that no longer have an appropriate basis.”

Metsger added that regulations like the fixed asset rule are based on assumptions at the time they are adopted, so future improvements are possible.

“I’m hopeful we’ll get a lot of feedback on that and I’m going to be aggressive in asking for that to see which ones you know may still be applicable or could be made more effective,” he said.

“There’s no shame in understanding that time may have made certain things no longer useful and the same thing with rules and regulations,” Metsger said.

He also said he would like to hear from credit unions if there are specific rules that need some revisions.

“They can email, they can call. All I ask is like anything else if you have an issue, tell me what the issue was, is and make your case for it, give me just the facts, ma’am.

“I want to know why this rule needs some adaptation or change or elimination, and then given that basis I’ll start testing those assumptions with others,” he said.